Covering the stunning fall of Judy Mikovits, researcher of XMRV and chronic fatigue

By By Trine Tsouderos

Nov 22, 2011 | 10:22 AM

In 2010, we published a story about an amazing scientific finding that had caused enormous waves in medicine. Researchers reported finding a link between a retrovirus called XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, a frustrating disorder with no proven explanation and no cure. The findings were reported in a paper in one of the most prestigious journals in the world – Science.

What grabbed our attention was what some of the scientists involved with the paper did after its publication in 2009. The lead researcher, Judy Mikovits, began making sweeping unsupported statements about the finding, including tying XMRV to autism without publishing any data to support that statement. Some CFS patients began taking potent antiretroviral drugs meant to treat HIV.

The problem with all of this was that in science, findings don't mean much until they are replicated. Scientists are often wrong, even when they publish in prestigious journals. And in this case, soon after the Science paper came out, independent teams were unable to replicate the findings. They could not find evidence of XMRV in the blood of CFS patients – or anyone else for that matter. Talk of contamination – a not-unheard-of problem in virology labs – arose.

Mikovits adamantly denied contamination had anything to do with her results.

Recently, we reported that the journal Science had launched an investigation into whether a figure in Mikovits' 2009 paper had been manipulated. Soon after, Mikovits was fired from the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Diseases, the Reno, Nev., non-profit created by the parents of a daughter with CFS. Last week, WPI filed a civil lawsuit against Mikovits, accusing her of taking lab notebooks and a computer that belonged to WPI.

The University of Nevada, Reno police issued an arrest warrant listing two felony charges: possession of stolen property and unlawful taking of computer data, equipment, supplies or other computer related property. Mikovits will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in California.